“Saints And Singers”

By Mohammad Hussain Khan, *Bhit Shah attracts visitors from Berlin as well* - Dawn.com - Pakistan; Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Bhit Shah: The lure of the annual Urs of Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai is strong enough to attract people from as far as Berlin, Germany.

A well-known German writer and follower of Sufism, Peter Pannke, is among the people who arrived in Bhit Shah on Tuesday evening for the 267th Urs celebrations, that was inaugurated by the Sindh Auqaf Minister Abdul Haseeb.

Pannke, 64, was dressed in a black shalwar kameez. “I was the first person to invite the singer Faqirs of the shrine to Berlin in 1997. It was the first time they travelled outside of Pakistan and we had a concert similar to Bhit Shah’s on a Friday night which was attended by 700 people. The Faqirs sang for whole night,” he recalled.

Pannke is currently writing a book titled “Saints and Singers,” and will attend the second Karachi Literature Festival slated for February 5 and 7. He would be speaking on Sufism along with other writers Jurgen Wasim Frembgen and Michel Boivin at the festival.

He has studied sinology, Indology and comparative religions. He has made a name for himself as a writer, composer, festival director and broadcaster with an output of several programmes directing his own world music shows.

His wife Lisa said that the shrine is an attractive place with a long tradition. “You can see how strong Bhitai’s attraction is still today that he attracts people even from Berlin,” she said.

Besides this German couple, the devotees have arrived at the shrine for the Urs. For the elderly Mohammad Hassan Jafri it is very important to come pay his respects to his Murshid – Shah Latif – all the way from Shikarpur.

“I have to be here at all costs,” said Jafri while offering lunger [food] to this reporter. He has brought with him, food and other necessary items to stay in the shrine’s courtyard for three days.

Men, women and children excitedly watch those dancing on the drumbeats. Devotees throng to the shrine in large number to offer fateha at the grave of Shah Latif. Many sat in front of the singer Faqirs as they recited his verses.

But more than it were people who gathered around a man who danced with ghungroos around his ankles while balancing a pitcher filled with water on his head.

Like every year, the town wore a festive look with shops selling food and dry fruits with colourful decorations. Even the main road leading to the shrine had been cleared and washed.

[Picture: Peter Pannke. Photo: Troubadours United.]